Using a communication server to connect two clients, such as a host and a client endpoint trying to access the host remotely, is a powerful mechanism for avoiding various kinds of network and firewall setup hurdles. Such server-based connections enable a user of a service provided by the host to enjoy plug-and-play experience from any machine on the Internet with simple host installation. However, there are costs associated with using the intermediate communication server—all traffic goes through the server, thus increasing the load on the server and the burden on network utilization. Furthermore, latency can potentially be higher than endpoint to endpoint connections (also commonly known as “direct connections” or “point to point connections”) between the clients, thus reducing the perceived speed of the service. Direct connections on the other hand, while possessing many desirable characteristics, such as network efficiency with little server involvement, can be complex and relatively time consuming to setup and maintain. Currently, some communication schemes adopt a combined approach, which attempts to establish a direct endpoint to endpoint connection first and only falls back to using an intermediate server when the direct connection fails. Such direct-connection-oriented approach suffers from the same problems as described above.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.